A Robust and Universal Metaproteomics Workflow for Research Studies and Routine Diagnostics Within 24 h Using Phenol Extraction, FASP Digest, and the MetaProteomeAnalyzer

The investigation of microbial proteins by mass spectrometry (metaproteomics) is a key technology for simultaneously assessing the taxonomic composition and the functionality of microbial communities in medical, environmental, and biotechnological applications. We present an improved metaproteomics workflow using an updated sample preparation and a new version of the MetaProteomeAnalyzer software for data analysis. High resolution by multidimensional separation (GeLC, MudPIT) was sacrificed to aim at fast analysis of a broad range of different samples in less than 24 h. The improved workflow generated at least two times as many protein identifications than our previous workflow, and a drastic increase of taxonomic and functional annotations. Improvements of all aspects of the workflow, particularly the speed, are first steps toward potential routine clinical diagnostics (i.e., fecal samples) and analysis of technical and environmental samples. The MetaProteomeAnalyzer is provided to the scientific community as a central remote server solution at www.mpa.ovgu.de.Peer Reviewe

Advanced technologies for decontamination and conversion of scrap metal

In October 1993, Manufacturing Sciences Corporation was awarded DOE contract DE-AC21-93MC30170 to develop and test recycling of radioactive scrap metal (RSM) to high value and intermediate and final product forms. This work was conducted to help solve the problems associated with decontamination and reuse of the diffusion plant barrier nickel and other radioactively contaminated scrap metals present in the diffusion plants. Options available for disposition of the nickel include decontamination and subsequent release or recycled product manufacture for restricted end use. Both of these options are evaluated during the course of this research effort. work during phase I of this project successfully demonstrated the ability to make stainless steel from barrier nickel feed. This paved the way for restricted end use products made from stainless steel. Also, after repeated trials and studies, the inducto-slag nickel decontamination process was eliminated as a suitable alternative. Electro-refining appeared to be a promising technology for decontamination of the diffusion plant barrier material. Goals for phase II included conducting experiments to facilitate the development of an electro-refining process to separate technetium from nickel. In parallel with those activities, phase II efforts were to include the development of the necessary processes to make useful products from radioactive scrap metal. Nickel from the diffusion plants as well as stainless steel and carbon steel could be used as feed material for these products

The Ethics of Corporate Governance

How should corporate directors determine what is the right decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from ethical investors, to do the good thing when they seek to make the right choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' decisions. While useful for those purposes, agency theory provides only limited guidance. Supplementing it with the alternatives - stakeholder theory and stewardship theory - tends to put directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of shareholders. This paper seeks to reframe the discussion about corporate governance in terms of the ethical debate between consequential, teleological approaches to ethics and idealist, deontological ones, suggesting that directors are - for good reason - more inclined toward utilitarian judgments like those underpinning shareholder value. But the problems with shareholder value have become so great that a different framework is needed: strategic value, with an emphasis on long-term value creation judged from a decidedly utilitarian standpoint

Health-related preferences of older patients with multimorbidity: An evidence map

Objectives To systematically identify knowledge clusters and research gaps in the health-related preferences of older patients with multimorbidity by mapping current evidence.Design Evidence map (systematic review variant).Data sources MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX, CINAHL and Science Citation Index/Social Science Citation Index/-Expanded from inception to April 2018.Study selection Studies reporting primary research on health-related preferences of older patients (mean age ≥60 years) with multimorbidity (≥2 chronic/acute conditions).Data extraction Two independent reviewers assessed studies for eligibility, extracted data and clustered the studies using MAXQDA-18 content analysis software.Results The 152 included studies (62% from North America, 28% from Europe) comprised 57 093 patients overall (range 9–9105). All used an observational design except for one interventional study: 63 (41%) were qualitative (59 cross-sectional, 4 longitudinal), 85 (57%) quantitative (63 cross-sectional, 22 longitudinal) and 3 (2%) used mixed methods. The setting was specialised care in 85 (56%) and primary care in 54 (36%) studies. We identified seven clusters of studies on preferences: end-of-life care (n=51, 34%), self-management (n=34, 22%), treatment (n=32, 21%), involvement in shared decision making (n=25, 17%), health outcome prioritisation/goal setting (n=19, 13%), healthcare service (n=12, 8%) and screening/diagnostic testing (n=1, 1%). Terminology (eg, preferences, views and perspectives) and concepts (eg, trade-offs, decision regret, goal setting) used to describe health-related preferences varied substantially between studies.Conclusion Our study provides the first evidence map on the preferences of older patients with multimorbidity. Included studies were mostly conducted in developed countries and covered a broad range of issues. Evidence on patient preferences concerning decision-making on screening and diagnostic testing was scarce. Differences in employed terminology, decision-making components and concepts, as well as the sparsity of intervention studies, are challenges for future research into evidence-based decision support seeking to elicit the preferences of older patients with multimorbidity and help them construct preferences.Trial registration number Open Science Framework (OSF): DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/MCRWQ

Ultrafast carrier relaxation in GaN, In_(0.05)Ga_(0.95)N and an In_(0.05)Ga_(0.95)/In_(0.15)Ga_(0.85)N Multiple Quantum Well

Room temperature, wavelength non-degenerate ultrafast pump/probe measurements were performed on GaN and InGaN epilayers and an InGaN multiple quantum well structure. Carrier relaxation dynamics were investigated as a function of excitation wavelength and intensity. Spectrally-resolved sub-picosecond relaxation due to carrier redistribution and QW capture was found to depend sensitively on the wavelength of pump excitation. Moreover, for pump intensities above a threshold of 100 microJ/cm2, all samples demonstrated an additional emission feature arising from stimulated emission (SE). SE is evidenced as accelerated relaxation (< 10 ps) in the pump-probe data, fundamentally altering the re-distribution of carriers. Once SE and carrier redistribution is completed, a slower relaxation of up to 1 ns for GaN and InGaN epilayers, and 660 ps for the MQW sample, indicates carrier recombination through spontaneous emission.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

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Peer reviewe

Genetic Diversity of a Parasitic Weed, Striga hermonthica, on Sorghum and Pearl Millet in Mali

Eleven populations of witchweed, Striga hermonthica, were collected in four regions of Mali and investigated with 12 microsatellite markers. Extensive genetic diversity was observed, with most plants heterozygous for most markers. Allelic diversity was broadly distributed across populations with little genetic differentiation and large amounts of gene flow. Nearby fields of pearl millet and sorghum were found to have indistinguishable witchweed populations. Some population structure was apparent, but did not correlate with the local environment or host genotype, suggesting that seed transportation or other human-driven variables act to differentiate central Malian S. hermonthica populations from southern Malian populations

Using estrus detection patches to optimally time insemination improved pregnancy risk in suckled beef cows enrolled in a fixed-time artificial insemination program

Citation: Hill, S. L., Grieger, D. M., Olson, K. C., Jaeger, J. R., Dahlen, C. R., Bridges, G. A., . . . Stevenson, J. S. (2016). Using estrus detection patches to optimally time insemination improved pregnancy risk in suckled beef cows enrolled in a fixed-time artificial insemination program. Journal of Animal Science, 94(9), 3703-3710. doi:10.2527/jas2016-0469A multilocation study examined pregnancy risk (PR) after delaying AI in suckled beef cows from 60 to 75 h when estrus had not been detected by 60 h in response to a 7-d CO-Synch + progesterone insert (CIDR) timed AI (TAI) program (d-7: CIDR insert concurrent with an injection of GnRH; d 0: PGF(2 alpha) injection and removal of CIDR insert; and GnRH injection at TAI [ 60 or 75 h after CIDR removal]). A total of 1,611 suckled beef cows at 15 locations in 9 states (CO, IL, KS, MN, MS, MT, ND, SD, and VA) were enrolled. Before applying the fixed-time AI program, BCS was assessed, and blood samples were collected. Estrus was defined to have occurred when an estrus detection patch was >50% colored (activated). Pregnancy was determined 35 d after AI via transrectal ultrasound. Cows (n = 746) detected in estrus by 60 h (46.3%) after CIDR removal were inseminated and treated with GnRH at AI (Control). Remaining nonestrous cows were allocated within location to 3 treatments on the basis of parity and days postpartum: 1) GnRH injection and AI at 60 h (early-early = EE; n = 292), 2) GnRH injection at 60 h and AI at 75 h (early-delayed = ED; n = 282), or 3) GnRH injection and AI at 75 h (delayed-delayed = DD; n = 291). Control cows had a greater (P < 0.01) PR (64.2%) than other treatments (EE = 41.7%, ED = 52.8%, DD = 50.0%). Use of estrus detection patches to delay AI in cows not in estrus by 60 h after CIDR insert removal (ED and DD treatments) increased (P < 0.05) PR to TAI when compared with cows in the EE treatment. More (P < 0.001) cows that showed estrus by 60 h conceived to AI at 60 h than those not showing estrus (64.2% vs. 48.1%). Approximately half (49.2%) of the cows not in estrus by 60 h had activated patches by 75 h, resulting in a greater (P < 0.05) PR than their nonestrous herd mates in the EE (46.1% vs. 34.5%), ED (64.2% vs. 39.2%), and DD (64.8% vs. 31.5%) treatments, respectively. Overall, cows showing estrus by 75 h (72.7%) had greater (P < 0.001) PR to AI (61.3% vs. 37.9%) than cows not showing estrus. Use of estrus detection patches to allow for a delayed AI in cows not in estrus by 60 h after removal of the CIDR insert improved PR to TAI by optimizing the timing of the AI in those cows